Dark Zone.

 

With its overwhelming realism and numerous convenience patches to match,

 

It was the most successful VRFPS game that attracted anyone with even a slight interest in the military like a tentacle.

 

The in-game quality and grand BGM, which were believable even if it were said that people were literally ground up to create them,

 

And the endless content, which could be called an inexhaustible cornucopia, such as continuously updating by purchasing the licenses of numerous computer FPS games that existed previously.

 

Even a movie made with in-game play was successfully released and achieved excellent results, so Dark Zone and ICARUS International were leading the culture beyond games.

 

However, as always, Dark Zone was not a perfect game.

 

And among them, there was one issue that almost always took the lead,

 

───!

 

“Hicc, ah! Wait! Wait!”

 

It was the fact that moving to Central Park HQ, which served as a tutorial, was extremely difficult.

 

In a game that almost intentionally designed party play and its level design to match,

 

At the beginning of the game – when players knew literally nothing, the tutorial was designed for them to move alone to the designated location.

 

This, quite literally, had a beginner difficulty level like a sudden cliff appearing on flat ground.

 

Of course, as the game aged and through the research of many people, it was revealed that this tutorial was a very good way to intensively learn all the skills needed to survive in Dark Zone from the beginning.

 

Therefore, the difficulty of the tutorial itself became a hot topic that sparked discussions and debates in the community for hours whenever it was brought up.

 

But regardless of that,

 

“Wait, this, it’s too realistic…!”

 

Harmony, who barely managed to throw back a grenade that had rolled to her feet, faced a series of situations where she didn’t even know how she was still alive.

 

Frankly speaking, it was hell difficulty.

 

­How did you survive, damnㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

 

­Judgment level top tier ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

 

­How did you throw the grenade? Already a seasoned playerㅋㅋㅋ

 

­My sister breaks out of jail, destroys drones~~~~

 

Of course, it was fun for the viewers.

 

Also, as always, the battlefield was more than enough to reveal human nature, and Harmony eventually abandoned her usual polite speech and screamed.

 

“No, the safe house is right in front! Why did I get caught by the reconnaissance team!? What’s with this timing!?”

 

But the fact that you can’t always get what you want was always a clear proposition.

 

If there was one fortunate thing amidst all this, it was that she had almost maxed out all corrections, and it had just started to activate.

 

A magical aid that allowed even a person with no FPS experience to roughly fight in a combat situation.

 

Thanks to that, she barely shouldered the M4 she was holding, ignoring the bullets whizzing past her with whip-like sounds,

 

She aimed at the enemies through the red dot sight and pulled the trigger with difficulty.

 

“Just go away───!”

 

Spent shell casings fell to the ground, and one of the escaping prisoners advancing with a shotgun was hit in the chest and collapsed.

 

Although many newbies didn’t know, this was the tutorial, and enemies without bulletproof vests could easily die with a few shots.

 

Also, this was affected by the level of correction chosen by the user,

 

Since Harmony chose almost full charge for all corrections, it meant she faced the weakest enemies.

 

But,

 

───Click.

 

“Hey, hey! What is this! The gun’s not firing! What’s wrong with it! Help!”

 

As always, it was a story that did not apply to a complete beginner who even forgot to reload in a tense situation.

 

Her suffering had only just begun.

 

Crack.

 

A sound similar to a branch breaking came from her feet.

 

As the vapor from her mouth and the steam rising from the red pool on the ground merged into one and melted into the air, the wriggling movements completely stopped.

 

That made a total of eight.

 

Judging by their uniforms and armaments, they were Russian landing troops on patrol.

 

“…Ha.”

 

It was quite a rough welcome.

 

But it was manageable. If it were a real situation, I would have done all sorts of crazy things, but the AI level wasn’t as high as I thought.

 

Of course, I didn’t expect the rifleman who charged in to swing a knife, but he loved it when I slightly dodged and hit his jaw with the buttstock.

 

He really died happily.

 

Anyway, despite the finely detailed job classifications of the enemies, four years of experience had already ingrained in my body how to deal with such people one by one.

 

The result was the irregularly scattered remains of corpses all around.

 

I started to search them one by one.

 

There was a reason for this.

 

“I used about three grenades and two magazines… That’s normal.”

 

In a real battlefield where it was difficult to get as many supplies as you wanted when you wanted, the amount of available materials changed depending on the enemy’s armament.

 

For instance, I used quite a lot of grenades in this engagement, and that was because….

 

­Rustle.

 

“As expected.”

 

If you searched the enemy’s pouches, RGD-5 grenades would come out.

 

These were Russian grenades.

 

In short, it was like this – when facing rioters or escapees who were not even properly equipped with bulletproof vests, I saved bullets as much as possible,

 

But when facing clearly well-equipped personnel, it was necessary to have the sense to predict how much lootable items the enemy would have and fight accordingly.

 

Of course, there was no mercy when fighting unmanned devices like portable turrets or combat drones. It was mentally easier to just pour everything out.

 

Anyway, I acquired an additional six grenades.

 

The clinking and heavy feel from the pouches and multipurpose pockets made me feel a nostalgic sense.

 

Since I often faced enemies with no room for compromise or negotiation, carrying explosives for area suppression and demolishing heavy weapons became a necessity and a daily routine, and this was the result.

 

I also learned the skill of pulling the pin with my tail, wrapping the grenade while shooting, and throwing it to the desired location.

 

Of course, there were dozens of times when my tail almost disappeared.

 

Thinking back, it was quite a crazy thing to do.

 

­Found armed safe house: New York City Hall, Lower Manhattan.

 

“The safe house location is the same.”

 

The engagement happened relatively close to the old safe house, so I thought it might not be in the game, but according to the information confirmed through the device, it seemed not.

 

Like a thorn in the flesh, the Brooklyn Bridge partially penetrated Lower Manhattan. I moved to the end of it.

 

Before I knew it, the black darkness was silently descending over the city.

 

But as if to set it ablaze, the lights from the underground backup generators of the high-rise buildings and various searchlights installed in the safe house illuminated the surroundings in white.

 

As if hinting that I had to go there.

 

Just in time, the navigation route was also pointing in that direction, so I started to walk slowly.

 

The snow that had never been trampled, repeatedly freezing and melting, left footprints under my hiking boots.

 

How long had I walked?

 

“….”

 

Quite a few footprints and piled-up corpses.

 

Since it was a game, the objects were already starting to disappear, but it was easy to distinguish where they were shot.

 

Legs. Stomach. Chest. Arms. Face… They had been shot everywhere.

 

If it was on purpose, it was a crazy person, and if not, it was something a complete beginner who had never held a gun would do.

 

In any case, it was easy to tell that someone had been here.

 

Among the many footprints, the traces of small hiking boots continuing towards City Hall were also clearly visible.

 

There must have been at least one more user taking the same route.

 

But it was not something I needed to care about.

 

As the numerous crowds that roamed the city disappeared as if it were a lie, turning the metropolis into a giant coffin, the only sounds left were the wind and the crunch of snow underfoot.

 

This silence and tranquility were something I couldn’t help but love.

 

As I switched the selector to safe and moved to the junction between the entrance of New York City Hall and the end of the bridge,

 

The iron bars were nowhere to be seen, and the searchlights of the safe house surrounded by high concrete barriers and containers illuminated me.

 

“Stop, stop!”

 

…In the past, they would have opened the door just by seeing my tail from a distance, but I guess it couldn’t be helped since it was a game.

 

As I nervously waved the device on my wrist, the searchlights turned off, and the thick iron door slid open to the sides.

 

An NPC-looking guard came running to greet me.

 

“I’m sorry. There was an engagement nearby just a moment ago, so everyone is on edge.”

 

I nodded slightly.

 

There wasn’t much to say. From the looks of it, New York was still quite a mess, and their hardships were probably a given.

 

With the usual words of thanks for their hard work, I entered the armed safe house – City Hall.

 

The interior was filled with people busily coming and going. But most of them seemed to be NPCs, and there was no one particularly worth interacting with.

 

Moreover, as if to prove that the tutorial was not yet over, it was difficult to find other operators who looked like users.

 

Maybe it would be different when I get to Central Park HQ.

 

───Plop.

 

“Ha.”

 

The safe house set up in the basement of City Hall. Its interior was the same as I remembered. Stark and mechanical, but at the same time, there were some spaces where one could rest.

 

A warehouse area that seemed minimally organized. It was filled with boxes whose contents were unknown

 

, and a board stood on one side with a map of New York attached to it.

 

There were also gun storage and boxes, an improvised workbench for gun maintenance, and a shooting range.

 

The air was slightly stuffy but bearable.

 

I sat down somewhere suitable and checked the gun’s operation. The zeroing wasn’t off, and I had plenty of spare magazines.

 

I also did a simple check of the chamber, bolt catch, magazine release, and so on.

 

And what I felt was….

 

Does this game not have a durability system? No need for gun maintenance?

 

“I guess I’ll find out someday….”

 

Whatever it was, there hadn’t been any significant malfunctions after several shots so far.

 

Although it was a game, and it wasn’t actually cold, I felt like I had rested enough. I pulled up the navigation route and checked the estimated arrival time.

 

Having just arrived in Lower New York, I figured I should walk diligently. If I arrived, it would probably be around midnight in the in-game time, I thought as I got up.

 

Just as I was about to go up the stairs,

 

“Wait a minute───!!”

 

A particularly high-pitched voice resonated throughout the safe house.

 

I almost reflexively switched the selector to semi-auto and raised the muzzle, but my eyes first checked the armament status and IR marker.

 

It was a friendly.

 

That was close.

 

Looking at the figure that had sprinted to a sudden stop in front of me, I couldn’t help but be quite dumbfounded.

 

“…Who are you?”

 

Calm mint-colored hair. Triangular ears sticking out from the top of her head… She had no tail, but the small girl who looked like a cat, whose fur seemed like it would smell like mint, did not match the tactical gear at all.

 

But even without in-depth analysis, she was already fully equipped. Specifically, she was another user going through the tutorial like me.

 

The fact that there were no other users around only made me more certain.

 

In any case, the girl who had stopped abruptly at my feet looked at me with her gun in hand.

 

And then­

 

“Teacher!”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Would you like to party up with me!?”

 

No.

 

Why are you saying it so desperately? Pathetically.

 

* * *